Maternal Instincts
by VRdee
Summary: There's a lot more to Loki than the Avengers had ever realized, and in a corn field in Iowa they have their eyes abruptly and irrevocably opened. Emotional!Loki, Loki & Sleipnir. I honestly can't decide if this is a crack fic or not... I might consider this part of my own personal fannon. A knowledge of the mythological origin of Sleipnir might be helpful, but you'll pick it up.


**So, this might seem like I'm the most bizarre freak of all time if you're reading it without background knowledge. Let me just say that the Norse were the bizarre freaks, not me. I'm just shamelessly enjoying the freaky ideas they had. Just go into this knowing that, although I don't stick to it _exactly_ perfectly, this is directly inspired by Loki's actual Norse mythology.**

**I hope you enjoy. If not, I understand that too.**

* * *

It had started out as a quiet day at the Avenger's Tower.

That alone should have signaled to them that something was wrong.

Clint and Natasha had just gotten back from training, walking back into the penthouse when Thor appeared outside on the roof. Steve dropped the food he'd been making, and Bruce and Tony jumped from their spots on the sofa. Thor had appeared in a burst of lightening. It was hard not to be at least a little bit startled.

"My friends!" Thor greeted them, an edge of panic in his voice. He charged towards the glass doors.

"Eek!" Tony shrieked, rushing to open them before the god crashed through.

"Ah, thank you," Thor said, only comprehending that the glass had been there now that Tony had moved it out of the way.

"What's going on Thor?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, is something the matter?" Steve said. Clint and Natasha, as per usual, stood at the sidelines, waiting for the situation to develop before they involved themselves.

"Yes!" Thor cried, his voice booming. "Yes, my friends, I'm afraid that something is very much the matter. Loki has escaped Asgard."

Clint stiffened. He didn't like Loki. He didn't like Loki at all. He liked the thought of him being on the loose even less.

"I thought you people were supposed to make sure that didn't happen." Natasha hissed coldly.

"It wasn't supposed to!" Thor said, distraught. "Please understand me my friends, I did not believe that Loki even desired to escape, he's been most remorseful for his actions since his punishment."

Bruce and Steve both felt sorry for Thor. They figured it was likely his blind desire to see the best in his brother that had Thor believing that. Tony for one believed there was a chance that it was true; no one knew better than him that people could change. All Clint felt was the same darkness that rushed over him whenever he thought of his time with Loki. Natasha snorted with derision.

"Please, what could possibly make that thing feel remorse? He is cruel, there's nothing more to it."

Thor glared at Natasha furiously. "I will have you know that the punishment derived for my brother was quite cruel as well."

"That doesn't mean he's remorseful though," Steve pointed out. "It could just be he wanted the punishment to stop for his own sake, so he pretended to regret his actions."

"I don't know," Tony said darkly. "Torture can really make someone reevaluate things." Bruce put a comforting hand on Tony's shoulder. "I'm assuming that's what we're talking about, right? Torture?" the billionaire asked Thor.

Thor frowned deeply, looking pained. "Yes, I believe that description is apt. It was determined that Loki would have to experience the death and terror of each person that he harmed, repeatedly, until he accepted the wrongness of his actions." Thor looked at Clint. "Your pain was included amongst the hundreds of others."

Clint looked away. He wasn't sure how to feel about that. He certainly wasn't unmoved, but the severity of Loki's punishment didn't change what he'd done in the first place.

"Let's get back on track," Bruce said, ever the voice of reason. "Loki has escaped Asgard. Do you know for sure that he's on Earth?"

"No," Thor answered. "I have come here to beg your assistance in finding him if he be here. If a search of Midgard proves fruitless, I shall set my sights elsewhere."

"Does he have his staff with him?" Bruce asked.

"No," Thor informed him. "As the bulk of his power, it was removed from his possession. Loki did not retrieve it before he escaped. Why do you ask, Banner?"

"Because if he did I'd be able to track its energy signal," Bruce explained.

"The energy given off by Loki's staff is naught but Loki's own magical energy itself. If you are capable of tracking the staff, it is my belief that you will be able to track him as well," Thor said, sounding hopeful.

Bruce nodded, pulling up a blue computer interface from thin air. Stark technology was truly amazing, both Steve and Thor found themselves thinking.

Bruce glanced at Clint and Natasha. "I'm going to help Thor find his brother," Bruce said. "You guys okay with that?"

Natasha frowned. It tugged down on the corners of her lips only slightly, but considering how little emotion Natasha usually showed, she might as well have been cursing a bloody streak.

"It's okay," Clint said, both to answer Bruce and to calm Natasha. "And I want to go with you when you find him." Natasha started to protest but he cut her off. "I want to see if what Thor says is true. If he really is sorry, then maybe…maybe it will help," Clint said. No one had to ask what needed to be helped. It wasn't often talked about, but Clint had never fully recovered from having his will abused.

"Okay," Bruce nodded, and started manipulating the holographic screen, Tony leaning over his shoulder to assist him.

"Thank you friends!" Thor boomed, tears of gratitude in his eyes. "I am most grateful! You will not regret this act of kindness. You will see."

"Found him," Tony and Bruce said in unison.

"Really?" Steve asked, startled. Modern technology seemed like magic to him. Except, it was also totally different from the actual magic of Thor's world…things had gotten so complicated since he'd woken up.

"Yup," Tony responded. "He's in a corn field in Iowa."

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Why would he be there?" she asked.

"I don't know, maybe he got hungry," Tony responded.

"To Iowa!" Thor boomed.

One short jet ride later they were landing on a country side road, thanks to the compactness and maneuverability of Stark jets. Natasha and Tony explained to the poor farm owner what was going on, with less of an actual explanation and more of a show of authority. He meekly showed the strange people to his field, and directed them to the path they'd need to take to get where the energy signal was leading them.

"This is strange," Bruce said, looking at his portable holograph screen as they walked along a bumpy dirt path.

"What is that, son of Banner?" Thor asked.

"Yeah, what is it?" Tony inquired, leaning over to look at the screen as well.

"I'm picking up on a secondary magical signal. It's close enough to Loki's that it's showing up on my scan, but it's slightly different."

"You don't think this is part of another grab for power, do you?" Natasha speculated darkly.

"_No_," Thor insisted. "Loki has changed. You have not seen the cloud of despair that hangs over him. He has not even fought my attempts to comfort him, although they have done little help."

"He's just in that clearing," Tony said, pointing ahead to an opening in some trees.

Glancing at each other, not a single member of the team knowing what to expect, they walked into the clearing.

There was Loki, dressed in his Asgardian green garb, sans his horned helmet. His long raven hair looked slightly mussed, which was far more mussed than any of them had witnessed it before. He was in the middle of the clearing, facing away from them, calling frantically to a…

"Is that a horse?" Steve asked.

Bruce glanced down at his screen, then back up again. "Well, that's odd…" he said, seeing that the location of the horse perfectly correlated to the second magical entity.

"Holy shit on a stick," Clint blurted. "Does that horse have eight legs?!"

Bruce took a second look. "Oh, that makes more sense," he said calmly.

"Sleipnir!" Loki was calling. "Sleip, come _here!_" It could have been their imaginations, but Loki sounded nearly on the verge of tears. Seeing his brother in distress, Thor charged towards the center of the clearing, leaving the rest of the Avengers to scramble after him.

"Brother!" Thor boomed, causing Loki to whip around in surprise.

"Thor!" he cried. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you of course! Mother is beside herself with worry, what possessed you to leave Asgard?" Thor demanded, closing the distance between them.

"Can't you see?" Loki said, waving his hands at the multi-legged horse. "Sleipnir came down here! Didn't any of you notice? I thought father was going to take _care_ of him!" None of the Avengers knew quite how to react to hearing and seeing Loki so obviously distraught.

"Brother forgive me, we were too distracted by your disappearance. If I'd know that my nephew had gone missing as well, I certainly would have helped. Why didn't you ask me to help you retrieve him?"

"Waitaminute," Tony blurted. "Your _nephew?_ Are you…are you talking about the horse?" he asked, voicing the shock and confusion that each Avenger was currently experiencing.

Thor looked at them casually. "Sleipnir is _far _more than a simple horse, he is the greatest steed among gods and men, and I could not be a prouder Uncle."

"Slayp-neer?" Steve mumbled, overwhelmed.

"Are you saying that you two have a sibling who's a horse?" Clint asked.

That was when Loki seemed to notice the rest of the Avengers for the first time. His eyes locked on Clint, his expression a look of fear mingled surprise.

"You…" he whispered.

"Yes, him," Natasha shot back. Clint put a hand on her arm, silencing her. He was staring just as intently at Loki as Loki was staring at him.

Loki glanced away, looking to Thor. "Why did you bring them here?" he asked, sounding upset.

"I am sorry my brother, they are my friends, and I was desperate to find you. I thought they could help. And they did, with out them I would not have found you."

"You thought I'd done something bad again!" Loki accused.

"No, I was simply worried for you!" Thor protested.

"It's true," Clint spoke up. "The whole time he insisted that there was an explanation for your disappearance. He's convinced that you've reformed…" Clint trailed off, inviting Loki to either confirm or deny.

Tears welled in Loki's eyes, shocking each Avenger. "Of course I have! You think I could live with myself if I didn't repent? I have felt the pain of a hundred deaths, and have felt it by my own hands! There is no face in my nightmares but my own! No revenge to seek but on myself! I would tear my heart out right now and hand it to you if I thought it would make amends for what I have done!"

Clint took a small step back, looking at him with wide eyes. "No, no that's okay," he said, convinced.

"Now that that's cleared up," Tony said. "I want to hear the answer to the question. Do you two have a horse sibling?"

"No!" Thor laughed heartily. "I have no equine relatives but for dear Sleipnir here, and no siblings but for my brother Loki. Sleipnir is Loki's child."

"What?!" each and every Avenger shouted at once, even Natasha.

"The horse is your son?" Bruce asked, astounded.

"Yes," Loki affirmed, glancing back at Sleipnir, who still refused to join him.

"You have a child?" Natasha blurted, her contempt completely drowned out by disbelief.

"Yes," Loki confirmed again, looking worriedly at Sleipnir.

"And it's a horse?" Steve asked, hoping the facts would make more sense if they were repeated often enough.

"Yes, yes, an eight legged horse," Loki said, inching towards Sleipnir again, turning his back on the Avengers and waving a dismissive hand at them.

"You're the horse's father?" Tony reiterated, mostly because of his constant need to get his voice in.

Loki stopped inching towards Sleipnir, who was whinnying and pacing with agitation, and turned back to the Avengers.

"Ah…no," he said.

For a minute no one could wrap their brains around that.

"But you just said multiple times that the horse was your child! Your son, your offspring, your progeny!" Tony protested.

"Stop calling him 'the horse,' his name is Sleipnir," Loki said crossly, causing Steve to mumble "Slayp-neer" to himself again. "And as for all that…Sleipnir is indeed my child, and I his parent. But I am not his father. The stallion Svadilfari has that honor. I am Sleipnir's mother."

And with that, he turned around to try getting his son's attention again. Sleipnir continued to whinny and dance away on his eight legs as Loki tried to approach him.

Thor saw the looks of utter shocked, dismayed, uncomprehending confusion on each of his friend's faces.

"My brother has several children," Thor explained. "It is not so unusual for gods to end up with children. It happens to us in ways that are not near so strict as it is with you mortals. Sleipnir is the only one that Loki birthed himself however, and he is very protective of the dear child. I have no idea what possessed Sleipnir to come all the way down here to Midgard..." Thor trailed off thoughtfully.

"LOKI," Tony screamed, shattering the stunned silence that had been possessing each Avenger. "GAVE BIRTH. TO A HORSE?!" His voice was shrill and sharp, his eyes practically bulging out of his head.

"Ow…" Natasha mumbled.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Steve was chanting to himself.

"How did he become impregnated?" Bruce asked, ever the curious scientist.

Every one turned to look at him in horror.

"What?" he asked, shrugging. He wanted to know.

Thor chuckled. "Ah, well, we sometimes do foolish things in our youth. But to be fair, Svadilfari _was_ quite the attractive stallion. Not really my type, but Loki's interests have always been a bit more adventurous than mine…"

"LOKI," Tony screamed. "HAD SEX. WITH A HORSE?!"

"Do not be so alarmed, son of Stark," Thor said, trying to calm his friend. "He transformed himself into a mare first. I imagine it would have been most painful other wise."

Tony just broke down into mindless screaming at that point. Steve kept chanting under his breath, his eyes glued to the ground. Natasha felt very much like just leaving them all there and taking the jet home. Clint was simply dumbfounded. Bruce was wondering if Loki would let him study him…

"Shut up!" Loki turned around and hissed at Tony, silencing his hysterical screams. "You're scaring him! I don't have time to explain my sexual history to you simple minded people, either help me get my son back home or leave!"

"I thought my training had prepared me for anything…" Natasha mumbled. "I was wrong."

"Same," Clint and Steve said at the same time.

"I'll help you!" Bruce said brightly. Loki glared at him suspiciously.

"I don't want the Hulk near my son," he warned Bruce.

"That's okay, I'll stay me. I'm good with…animals? Is it okay to call him that?"

Loki shrugged. "We're all animals."

Bruce edged towards Sleipnir, his hands extended in a sign of peaceful intent. For the first time everyone took a moment to really look at Loki's son. He was nearly twice the size of a normal horse, he had a beautiful dappled grey coat and a main that seemed to be constantly blowing in the wind. And, of course, eight legs.

"Hey, Sleipnir," Bruce said. "How are you doing? It was nice of you to visit us down here on Midgard, but I think it's time for you to go home with your dad now."

"Mother," Loki corrected him.

"Mother," Bruce said, the word feeling strange on his tongue. "You should go back up to Asgard with your mother. He'll…take good care of you."

There was an intelligence in Sleipnir's eyes, Bruce noticed as the stallion regarded him. To the rest of the Avenger's and especially Loki's surprise, Sleipnir's whinnying quieted under Bruce's attention. He refused to get any closer to them, however.

"Stop, stop stop," Loki whispered to Bruce. "That's good, don't spook him."

Bruce complied and stopped inching towards Sleipnir.

"Sleipnir," Loki said, care in his voice. "Please, just let me know what's wrong. If it's something I did, I'm sorry, but we can work it out. I'll take you riding. We can visit Fenrir, you'd like that wouldn't you? It's been a while since you saw your brother."

Sleipnir whinnied sadly.

"Oh…" Loki said, clearly understanding something Sleipnir had communicated that the rest of them couldn't. "I'm…I'm sorry, Sleipnir, but I would never have left you alone if I hadn't been sure that your grandfather would look after you. Well, mother has been having some family issues recently, and he wanted to keep you out of it."

Sleipnir now seemed to be communicating with Loki entirely telepathically while the Avengers watched on. "No, Asgard was the safest place for you," Loki continued in his seemingly one sided conversation. "No, I don't have any children on Midgard, don't be silly. Even if I did, I've always treated all of my children equally-"

Loki got a hurt expression on your face. "_Ignored_ you all equally? Sleip, please! Mummy's just been a bit busy recently! I was always going to come back for you and your brothers and sister!"

Sleipnir kicked unhappily at the dirt.

"I _told_ you I had things to see to! You only had to be patient, and- what was that? Well, no, Mummy's plans did fall through a bit…I've been a bit depressed about that to be honest. You could have cheered me up?" Loki stopped to listen to what Sleipnir was telling him, and was silent for several minutes. "Oh, Sleip!" Loki cried eventually, tears welling up in his eyes again. He ran at Sleipnir, and this time the horse let him. Loki threw his arms around the big horse, who before their eyes was becoming a smaller and smaller horse, until Loki was holding a young colt in his arms.

Loki nuzzled his son affectionately. "Mummy's got you, baby. Oh my dear dear boy, I'm here now," he whispered to the little horse, who whinnied joyfully.

Thor turned and beamed at his flabbergasted friends. "It seems the issue has been resolved, I will be returning my family to Asgard now."

"Um…" Clint spoke. Loki looked up from petting Sleipnir.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to say…" Clint shuffled awkwardly. "Look, maybe this isn't right, maybe I shouldn't forgive you so easily. I mean, you're a self obsessed, power-hungry murderous sociopath, so really, holding a grudge wouldn't be that awful of me, but…aw, heck, I really can't hate you after seeing you snuggle a baby horse, and after hearing what a genuinely freaky dude you really are, I'm beginning to comprehend just how much normal expectations of morality may not apply. I mean, you screwed a horse-"

"My night with Svadilfari was beautiful!" Loki snapped, before regaining himself. "I mean…um, thank you. Thank you very much for your consideration and…understanding."

"Uh…yeah," Clint went on. "So I mean, for what you did to me at least? Maybe not for the trying to take over the world and killing people part, but as far as I'm concerned, you're forgiven."

Loki beamed at him. It was slightly unnerving how genuinely nice he seemed.

"Thank you. Thank you, I don't deserve that," Loki said, his voice weighted with gratitude. "Sleipnir, give the nice man a kiss," Loki told his son. Sleipnir stood on his eight bandy legs and nuzzled his head against Clint's chest, then rejoined his mother, leaving Clint (and the rest of the Avengers) stunned.

"Farewell friends!" Thor cried, wrapping his thick arm around Loki's relatively narrow shoulders, and hefted his hammer into the sky. In a flash of lightening, the three other worldly beings disappeared.

"Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God," Steve was still chanting.

* * *

They broke Steve. Haha, oh my god I had way too much fun with this. Please review if you enjoyed it too.


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